


Pumpkin Spice Chaos

by ElectricJo



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Office, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-05
Updated: 2015-11-17
Packaged: 2018-04-24 22:50:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4937977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElectricJo/pseuds/ElectricJo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack liked two things: analysing people to mess with them, and pumpkin spice lattes.<br/>He never expected someone would mess him up with said drink.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Autumn Leaves

Jack Rollins loved two things in this world the first thing he loved was observing people, he loved seeing quirks and learning how people lie and react and are, to understand their body language. As a kid this made him seem introverted because he kept quiet most of the time observing, cutting up people piece by piece it was disconcerting and other kids didn’t like it, but he soon learned to adapt to be able to see more expressions.  
As a teenager he was more introspective, he learned to imitate to deceive to become whatever someone might want him to be. As an adult it proved extremely beneficial, working in an office he could walk away with million dollar deals, unfortunately as he grew older he had began to settle into office jobs and his social circles grew smaller, he became quieter, seeing his abilities had dwindled in imitation he decided to apply them in a different direction, he was now part of headhunting and recruiting at his office, and it was proving very lucrative. 

The second thing Jack loved was pumpkin spice latte’s but there was a downside Jack hated coffee shops, he hated waiting in line, he hated giving out his name and the clerk looking at his scars, he hated that nobody really paid attention to the soft jazz playing in the background, that´s Miles Davis you morons. He hated that the sizes were all stupid names meaning the same thing “Jake! Pumpkin Spice Latte” the barista said when he left his latte on the counter; He knew it was his as no one walked towards it. Ok one more thing he hated about coffee shops, they never got your name right, Jack knew though that pseudo Baristas at big house coffee establishments hated coffee shops as much as he does and changed names out of spite and frustration.

Never the less every fall season he was waiting for the signs signaling that pumpkin spice latte was available at the Starbucks across the street from the office building he worked at. 

Today he was in a specially bad mood as he walked out of it with his latte, making it the third consecutive day to be late for work just to get his hands on this stupid seasonal drink he couldn’t get enough of. But just was he took the first step outside he was pushed back a tiny bit by a guy walking with his back to the door, spilling the hot latte over his shirt, tie and the street pavement. 

“Jeez dumbass look we´re you’re going” the man said to him as he turned around “What did you just call me?” Jack answered defensively. The shorter man looked shocked and upset and was about to say something when another man stepped between them. “Brock c´mon this is clearly your fault, just buy the guy a new coffee” this guy looked extremely bemused with the situation as if spilling Jack’s coffee was the best thing the other guy could have done “Look Grant…” he gestured at Jack wide eyed “ I… I… don´t owe this guy anything, he should have looked were he was going, he could have burnt me” he blurted out. Brock as the other guy called him seemed nervous, embarrassed and… was he blushing?.

Jack looked down at his coffee cup, there was nothing much left in it he almost crushed his cup in frustration, as he looked the shorter man down “C´mon guys calm down “another man interjected this time a blond one with a thick French accent also extremely bemused “Brock just apologize” “Jesus” He looked straight at Jack for a moment and he was blushing… “I´m sorry, let me buy you another cup” Jack was surprised by the honesty in the man’s rough voice. Jack just nodded throwing his now empty cup at a nearby trash-can he was already late, what harm could it do to get his coffee back. 

Brock Walked towards the counter and ordered a venti pumpkin spice latte. “How did you know what I wanted?” Jack asked couriously. Brock looked at him and then looked back at the other two guys that came with him before answering. Jack noticed a slight fidgeting in his hands he is nervous “it´s on your cup” he said slowly… Jack didn't like the tone of his voice then, was he judging him? This thing happened to taste quite good, and the fact that it was only served seasonally was especially convenient. “We’re going to go look for a place to sit” Grant? Was it? told Brock. Brock looked back at the clerk, “Make that two” Maybe he´s not judging me? 

“Uh… my name is Brock” he said walking away from the cashier and towards the receiving area “Jack” he answered plainly “I think I´ve seen you around, you work around here Jack?” Brock said leaning into a more comfortable position on the counter one of his hands on his hip he was wearing a black on black suit. Is he flirting? “ I work across the street” Jack opened his legs a bit and imitated Brock’s position “I actually think we work at the same building” he said and after he rubbed his index finger on his lower lip giving Jack a once over slowly. He is flirting, this is amusing “… You’re pretty volatile aren’t you?” “excuse me?” “your attitude it’s changed quite a bit from the door to here… “ “I uh” “Brody pumpkin spice lattes?” the barista says interrupting whatever Brock was going to say in defense “See you later Brock, thanks for the coffee” Jack said grabbing his coffee, he turned back and winked at Brock before he left the building. 

***  
“I can’t believe how even though it totally backfired you managed to flirt with him” “I didn’t flirt with him I just bought him the coffee because I threw away his”  
“What a sour face” Grant said walking with Brock back to the office building “He doesn’t have a sour face” Brock said in protest. 

“You are so gone Brock, because he totally does” Batroc interjected, “he has a cute smile” “When did you see him smile?” “Today, and also a couple of weeks ago I’d seen him inside and I thought hey that guy is good looking and then he ordered this stupid coffee and when he went outside I saw him laughing” “Brock, you don’t want to fuck this guy you want to marry him!” Batroc said enthusiastically and started laughing. 

“You guys are being assholes and I shouldn’t have told you anything” “What thing?” a skinny blond man interjected with the deep voice that didn’t fit his profile as he walked into the elevator. “It’s not important Rogers it’s personal business” “Aww c’mon Brock don’t be like that we’re friends, is this about a girl? …. A guy?” Steve Rogers asked wiggling his eyebrows at him “Brock has a crush on a guy who works here but he doesn’t know in what department” Grant said leaning close to Rogers  
“You’re a risk analyst you practically interact with every department this guy must really stick to himself” Steve said rubbing his chin with his hand “can we please stop talking about this?” Brock said trying to strain the fact that his conversation was going nowhere. 

“What’s his name?” Steve asked curiously, fucking gossip “Jack” Batroc answered the traitor “Just Jack?” What the fuck do you mean just Jack? “That’s all we know, he has a scar on his chin, he’s tall” “Jack could be a John… I know a couple of Johns” “It’s not a John it’s a Jack” Brock said swiping his hand over his face in resignation “Jack Jack Jack… hmmm” Steve hummed “Guys” the elevator dinged and James Barnes walked into it “Gentlemen, Steve” he said as he stepped in “Bucky, do you know a guy named Jack?” Steve asked James tugging at his Blazer “I know a few, why? what department?” “personal business” Steve said seriously in an attempt to imitate Brock “and, not sure, he has a scar on his chin” “Oh! Rollins, he’s in recruiting with me, very quiet but if you’re new you owe him your job, kind of a sour face” “That’s what I said!” Grant explained, “thank you Bucky” Steve turned around and winked at Brock smiling enthusiastically and Brock just wanted to punch his face in. Brock had been pined for Steve Rogers but lost interest as he started to know the man, total goodie goodie, besides James Barnes was holding a huge boner for the little guy and he could chop off Rumlow’s head from the board in a breath. 

Now that Brock knew what department Jack worked on, it was more and more difficult to restrain himself to go and talk to the guy, things aren’t this difficult for him to get around and plainly say what he wanted, and he usually got it, but there was something about Jack that intimidated him. The first time he had seen him was at the coffee shop, he was going to approach him then when he noticed he ordered the pumpkin spice latte and that kind of threw him off, but as Jack walked out the coffe shop, Brock noticed him smiling at something and then holding back a laugh, the smile was incredibly contagious and that kind of pulled him in more, but as he turned to see what Jack was so amused about, he knew he was head over heals for Jack Rollins. 

 

***  
Jack returned to work that day thinking about Brock, he was pretty sure the guy was interested in him, he wasn’t completely oblivious to flirting, and Brock was definitely flirting, Jack was rugged and well built but really he didn’t like to dwell to long on how he looked, but he could tell Brock liked what he saw. Brock wasn’t bad at all, he was a good-looking guy, very good body, but Jack didn’t know him, there was something about the look on his face though, just when he turned around just when they bumped to each other that made Jack want to know the guy. 

As Jack walked back to his cubicle from the coffee machine Sam Wilson poked his face from the top of the divider “ You going to the meeting?” “I had forgotten about it” Jack answered standing up and walking behind Sam he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to see James Barnes, Barnes was head at “Rollins can I talk to you for a bit after the meeting?” “absolutely, yeah” “okay thanks” “nothing urgent?” “what? No no… personal business”, “I see”. 

The meeting went merely routinely, they had to go through some motions, set up a new budget and distribute some merits. As everyone left the room Barnes took Rollin’s by the arm to the side… “Jack do you know a guy named Steve Rogers?” “…I think I’ve seen his name somewhere in the design department” “yeah…. I meant like… has he tried… have you talked to him?” Jack could tell Barnes was nervous, he wanted to have an answer but he was unsure about the outcome “To Steve Rogers?” “Yeah” “Not that I recall” The air went out of Barnes immediately a sign of relief “Okay I guess it’s nothing then thank you for your time…” Jack decided to push it a bit further, he really enjoyed teasing “do you want me to talk to him about something?” The shock in Barne’s face was obvious, this had backfired for him “what?! No, no thank you… it was a misunderstanding” “I see” Jack knew he had to talk to Steve Rogers.


	2. I waited for you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Love triangles are awful.

Chapter 2 : I waited for you

Monday morning rolled in after an un-eventful weekend for Brock Rumlow, he had spent the weekend either at the gym or watching Netflix at home, he had been invited to a bar on Saturday night by the guys from work but he frankly didn’t feel like it, something went amiss on Friday morning when he failed entirely at swooning Jack Rollins, well more like Jack Rollins made him swoon? He couldn’t count this as an entire failure, he knew his name and Jack had said: “see you later”, but he was dismissive, he didn’t wait for Brock to give him his number and he completely taunted him for flirting. Brock was a fucking catch. Who the fuck did this guy think he was? 

He thought about Jack Rollins’ attitude the whole weekend, was his wink before he turned around an invitation? Was he interested in Brock finding him? Was he just taunting him? There’s no way Jack was straight, if he had been he would have cleared it up right he would have said, hey man I’m not interested. 

Brock cleared his throat as he looked at himself in the mirror and tried to put on his tie, he had been talking to himself out loud, he sighed long and loud as he took the tie off and threw it at the mirror. He looked better without it anyway. 

As he arrived at the office building he noticed the Starbucks line wasn’t too long, he looked at himself in the reflection of the glass, was he loosing his appeal? He strode in hoping he hadn’t. 

***  
As Monday morning awoke him Jack got up thinking about tan skin and hazel eyes, he wasn’t expecting Brock to make another move but he was curious and a tiny bit hopeful he would. Frankly it had been a while since Jack dated anyone, sure there had been those occasional passing flings but Brock’s awkward shyness revealed a lot more about his intentions. 

Jack walked towards the Starbucks from the metro station and walked inside to find a huge line, Brock to his surprise was almost at the front, he considered walking up to him to ask for his drink when Brock glanced back at the door and looked at him straight in the eyes he smiled and waved his hand to acknowledge him to move forward. As Jack walked to the front he heard Brock order a venti pumpkin spice latte and a tall cappuccino, guess pumpkin spice really wasn’t his cup of Joe. 

Jack stood next to him and took out his wallet but Brock placed his hand over it “It’s on me” he said looking at their hands touching slightly and then paid the cashier with a card. They both walked over to the waiting area and Jack smirked at how amused he was at Brock, he wanted both to please him and make him beg. “What’s so funny?” the shorter man asked him “ You are” Jack said still holding the snicker in his face looking down at Brock as he leaned on the counter. “Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot” “Oh we got off already? And you’ve only bought me coffee once I guess you move pretty fast” Jack said as the barista placed their drinks on the counter, he took both their drinks and walked over to the standing bar on the window. He took a sip of his own sweet delicious perfectly instrumented Pumpkin Spice latte as he waited for Brock’s reply. 

***  
Brock looked at Jack as he felt the blood rush to his face he walked away from him with his drink, maybe an instruction to follow, he looked around trying to control his emotions. He passed a hand through his hair as if somehow it had gotten tousled by Jack’s double intend he straitened his jacket and stood next to him grabbing his coffee. “What I meant is that… I may have had the intention of talking to you before we crashed at the door on Friday”, he said earnestly. 

Jack looked puzzled he lowered his drink a bit and was about to say something else as Steve Rogers approached them with a giant smile on his face. “Brock so nice to see you here so early, how was the weekend?” He looked between Brock and Jack and suddenly realised he had been interrupting something as if it wasn’t obvious. “Oh I’m sorry I’m Steve Rogers” he said directing himself to Jack and extending his hand to shake it. 

Jack put his coffee down and took Steve’s hand slowly, a firm grip, Brock could tell “Hello, I’m Jack Rollins, I’ve heard so much about you” Jack gave Brock a light glimpse without letting go of Steve’s hand he turned his body slightly towards Steve and gave him a deliberate head to toe once over, “Clearly they haven’t done you justice” and let go of his hand to lean on it on the counter and hold his chin with it, he grabbed his coffee with the other and lifted it to his lips lifting his eyebrows slightly. 

***  
Steve was a clutter of emotions he was confused at first, then he blushed clearly understanding and soon after he felt embarrassed, nervous, he gave a quick look at Brock then back at Jack, who smiled “uhh thanks… uhh.. nice to meet you Jack … I uh… better get going…” “Oh c’mon Steve stay a bit let’s talk for a while it’s still pretty early” Steve looked at Brock again and said “no no… some other time maybe… got to go” he left hurriedly and Jack was ecstatic to see Brock’s reaction.

The look in Brock’s face was extremely unexpected… he wanted to see anger jealousy… But Brock’s face reflected sadness, hopelessness; he was surprised to say the least… He stood up a bit, he felt embarrassed, he realised he was toying with this guys emotions…. But he’d made a decision… he was going to go on a date with Brock if he asked him out… he just wanted to play with him a bit more… he sighed… and looked back at Brock who was looking at his coffee he walked closer leaning into his face Brock stood there wide eyed he smiled at him and cleared the foam that was on his upper lip with his thumb and licked his finger “You had something there” “Oh” Brock answered looking back at Jack. “I got to go… thanks for the coffee” “Yeah I… you’re welcome” “see you later” he said and winked at him before turning around and walking towards their office building. 

As he walked inside he noticed Steve was still waiting by the elevator doors to go up he stood next to him waiting. “Long time no see” Jack said sarcastically balancing on the balls of his feet. He wanted to seem amiable to Steve, easy going. 

As the elevator dinged there wasn’t that many people boarding with them, “so you’re in design right?” Jack asked Steve leaning a bit towards him inside the elevator. Steve wore a pair of straight boot cut khaki pants with a blue shirt with red pin stripes he was skinny and short but good looking, delicate. Not really Jack’s type, still, by now he knew Steve was aware Brock had a crush on him, and it filled him with gusto how much it made Steve uncomfortable to talk to Jack. 

“Uhm… Jack, do you mind if I ask you a question?” “Yeah go ahead” “You said you had heard a lot about me, from whom?” “Oh I’m sorry this is my floor” Jack said as the elevator dinged open again they had been alone in the elevator for a couple of floors, Jack stood by the open door and peered back at Steve “uhm… How about we talk about this tomorrow over lunch?” Jack said lifting his eyebrows and applying the best smile he could “Uh… sure” Steve said blushing a bit “ Ok, see you at the bistro down the street at 2 tomorrow” Jack said as he let the elevator doors close behind him. 

***

Brock was again speechless what the fuck had just happened? Was this guy a flirt? Was that it? was he just going to flirt with everyone? Was that his MO? Wait… Wasn’t he like that as well? Was this some kind of weird ass payback from destiny? Some Karma? Isn’t karma payback in your next life? Was he also an asshole in his previous life? He felt confused and he felt a small headache rising, he looked down at his coffee and gulped back the remaining amount on the paper cup, he crushed it as he made his way towards the exit. 

He immersed himself on the job, there was a huge merger coming up but it was still pretty much under the wraps, and it was his job to keep it top secret, he knew other members of the company where aware of it, but the higher ups hadn’t revealed other names, and he wasn’t going to go about looking for these people, because frankly he didn’t need to. He was crunching numbers in his office when Steve Rogers poked his head in. He knocked the door politely but he really didn’t need too because Brock had seen him walk by the corridor window. 

“Come in Steve, you already have the info graphics ready for next weeks meeting?” Brock asked but he knew Steve wanted to talk about what happened that morning “Yes, but that’s not what I came here for, I wanted to apologise, I didn’t realise you were talking to “that” Jack and I think I might have complicated things a bit” Steve said still standing in front of Brock’s desk. “Don’t worry about it Steve I think Jack’s just a flirt” “Well I thought that too… but I talked to him on the elevator as I was going up my floor” Brock looked up from his work, he gave Steve a look that he hoped would either scare him or encourage him to keep talking. Steve cleared his throat “And I think I might have screwed up a little more” “elaborate” “ I’m having lunch with him tomorrow, but I’m going to clear everything up Brock! Don’t worry about it” Brock stood up and walked up to the door “Steve, you’re an adult you can do whatever you want, right now… I would like if you could get out of my office we’re on schedule and I don’t want to waist any more time on this” “Brock…” Steve said sternly, there was no pleading or bashfulness in his voice it seemed like a demand to be listened too “Get Out Steve” Brock said feeling his voice cracking a bit. He was surprised by how involved he was in this, he never gave anyone a rats ass and yet this guy he barely knew was giving him the worst kind of torture, emotions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I took sooo long to update! I've been caught up with work, and my free-time has been given to the other fic I'm a tiny bit a part of, my friend's bittereyes (and me) "Sacred Heart". Which if you ship Stucky I encourage you to read. (It's a much better fic than this one) Thank you so much for the comments and feedback! They are greatly appreciated.


	3. It never entered my mind

Walking up to work on Tuesday was a sort of hell, he kept thinking about Steve having lunch with Jack, at this point he was pretty sure not only had Brock Rumlow lost his charm but he had also acquired a crush to the devil himself. 

Brock wasn’t stupid Jack was obviously teasing him. At first he felt a huge pang of jealousy at Rogers because he was having lunch with Jack but after analyzing the whole situation Brock could see the big picture Jack Rollins probably thought they where in some twisted game of thrones world where he could just manipulate people to hate each other. 

It was a whole frieken conspiracy, he refused to walk into the Starbucks that morning, he was going to have to drink shitty office coffee today because he was not going to play Jack’s game. 

Unfortunately for him Grant walked behind him into the elevator that morning “No coffee today?!” he asked half amused “nah” he responded as he checked emails on his phone “Is it ‘cause of the Roger’s incident yesterday?” Grant asked “Roger’s incident?” interrupted a voice from behind them, Barnes had already been in the elevator when they walked in, “Oh good morning Barnes” Grant said and Brock just nodded at him “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to pry but Steve’s a close friend of mine did something happen to him?” “Oh no no! I don’t want to carry office gossip but Steve and Brock had an argument yesterday about a personal matter…” “personal matter?” Barnes asked confused “Yeah personal and you shouldn’t be spreading office gossip Grant” Brock stated “Steve’s stealing Brock’s man” Grant “whispered” at Barnes but half of the people in the elevator heard. 

****  
Jack didn’t see Brock at the Starbucks that morning, which was disappointing to say the least, he really enjoyed teasing him. He began to get upset as a thought settled into his head, “what if I ask him out?” He brushed the thought away as the barista handed him his PSL. The coffee shop was particularly packed for a Tuesday so as he walked back to the office he was a bit late. 

Jack was sifting through candidates for a desk job, the left overs of his Pumpkin Spice Latte where already cold when James Barnes poked his head around his cubicle. 

“Jack you off to lunch in a few right?” “I am”, he said, drinking the last of his latte, grimacing at the temperature. “you… uh… going alone?” “I’m having lunch with someone actually, you want to accompany us?” “ uh… no no It’s fine” “ really?” “yeah” “your loss” And boy was it Barne’s loss, his scheme had worked somehow. Word had gotten about Steve and him having lunch, not an uncommon thing for co-workers but realizing how much Steve was aware of Brock’s crush on him he knew he would deliver the news about today’s plans to Brock in a most apologetic manner, it could have gone two ways, calmly or dramatically either way he didn’t care Barnes knew he was having lunch with Steve he just wanted to make sure, because he never would have asked him before. 

Steve was already sitting in a table at the bistro facing the door, “Sorry I’m late” Jack said as he sat down “you’re not late” Steve said offering the seat in front of him. Jack took it taking off his suit jacket, revealing a nicely fitted dress shirt that showed off his muscles. Jack noticed Steve blushing a bit as he looked at him. A waitress approached them and left two menus. Jack reached for his, but Steve remained with his hands entwined over the table. 

“You’re not going to order anything?” “Jack I want to get something straight” “yeah?” “I know you’re not interested in me, and you know I’m not interested in you so this is not a date right?” “Calm down Steve we’re just having lunch, trust me if this where a date I wouldn’t ask you to the same place I normally come to for lunch, pick something to eat” Steve sighed a sign of relief as he took the menu next to him 

“You know Jack, some people appreciate this type of common environment for dates, and I guess I’m sorry I misunderstood, but I’m correct then, you`re not interested in me” “no Steve, you’re cute but I’m just messing with Brock, and a colleague that I’m pretty sure is interested in you” “it’s who was talking about me… who was that?” “that’s what were here to talk about right?, we’ll have time for that later” “I’m guessing you were planning to mess with me as well” “Just a little bit”

They kept up the small talk for a while, Jack ordered his regular sandwich and Steve settled for soup, “you probably already know who mentioned you once” “once?” “Oh please, I don’t really talk to my colleagues that much, but Barnes mentioned you once” “It’s probably because I asked him about you” “Because of Brock? I assumed you knew about his not so subtle approaches towards me” “Yeah, he wanted to know where you worked he’s really interested in you” “I can tell” “Are you not interested in him?” “I don’t know him, so I’m not really sure, but I’m interested in knowing him better in a way, but Barnes mentioning you wasn't just because, if I where you I would look into that, and I’m pretty sure you’re just looking for excuses to do so” “am I that obvious?” “you’re pretty transparent”.

As Jack walked back to the office building by himself the same pesky thought crawled back into his head “You should ask him out yourself, you could tease him at your leisure in your own time” he licked his lips and grimaced at the fact he couldn’t have a second latte that day to brush the thought away, if he took a PSL every time he felt like he was going to get sick of them, and maybe it wasn’t so bad he didn’t ask Brock out, he didn’t want to get sick of him either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a super short chapter but this fic isn't particularly long i just want to build it up a bit. (:

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a fic for fun, I'm sorry if it feels CORNY I don't know how long it will be. These guys are horrible people.  
> Comments, edition notes everything welcome.


End file.
